Project Size and Workflow
All projects should be planned correctly before starting the design. Data Shortcuts should be used to split the design into separate drawings, if possible, the design should be split into design drawings and plan production drawings. Splitting the project into multiple drawings allows multiple designers to work on the project at the same time.
Design drawings should display as little information as possible to maximize performance. Generally, labels and tables slow down the regeneration time in Civil 3D when zooming or when switching between layouts (Civil 3D must regenerate all the labels and tables in all the viewports located in the layout). If you want to shorten the time required for a drawing to regenerate, freeze the layers for the labels and tables. Layers for the labels contain the suffix Label, layers for the tables contain the suffix Table:
When making changes to drawings, only load the XRefs and raster images you need and freeze the layers containing objects you do not need to see, for example sample lines and auxiliary corridors.
The design drawings should have no profile view bands or as little bands as possible. To move a PVI vertically can easily take 10 seconds for a 100km long alignment if multiple profile view bands are displayed. If no bands are displayed, then any adjustments are instant. If you need to display design parameters, rather use labels because updates are much faster. To remove all the bands, select a profile view, right-click and use the Profile View Properties command from the menu:
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Go to the Bands tab and click on the Import Band Set button:
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Select the _No Bands band set:
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Use labels to display the vertical alignment parameters such as the vertical curves K-values, lengths or tangents slopes. Select the vertical alignment, right-click and select the Edit Labels command from the menu:
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Click on the Import label set button:
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Select a suitable band set, e.g. Grade | Radius | Length:
Result:
When a PVI is moved only the labels related to the PVI will update, but if the profile view bands are displayed, Civil 3D updates all the bands for the entire alignment.
Long Road Projects
We recommend a maximum corridor length of 7km per drawing and no more than 250 cross-sections per drawing. Refer to the Long Road Project Workflow chapter for details.
If you will need to create a few corridor profiles that are dynamically linked to a corridor, you can consider using separate Data Shortcut Project Folders for each design drawing, because in some cases Civil 3D limits the number of profiles displayed in the Toolspace.
Township Developments
Try to split the design into areas (phases) with a maximum of twenty roads. We tested a drawing with over a hundred roads, the drawing became slow and difficult to work with.
Large Pipe Networks
If possible, split large pipe networks into multiple networks. If the stormwater and sewer networks need to be analysed as one network, you can define an inflow from the upstream network by using a time series inflow hydrograph. This option is not available for water reticulation and bulk water pipelines.
When working on large pipe networks, try to keep the Civil 3D Toolspace closed, it has a significant impact on the speed of the drawing when adding or deleting pipes and structures. The table below displays the results from our tests: